MADRID (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived in Madrid on Monday the place he’s set to fulfill Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and signal a safety deal by which Spain will provide Kyiv with 1.13 billion euros ($1.23 billion) price of weapons.
King Felipe welcomed Zelenskiy on the tarmac at Barajas airport, a gesture underlining the significance of the go to for Madrid. Zelenskiy later met Sanchez forward of a joint press convention scheduled for later within the afternoon.
Spain will decide to ship Ukraine a dozen Patriot anti-aircraft missiles and 19 second-hand German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks, in addition to different Spanish-made weapons similar to anti-drone gear and ammunition, El Pais newspaper reported on Monday.
The tanks, which had been mothballed for a few years, will want a radical refurbishing, the newspaper added, citing unnamed sources near the deal.
The 19 tanks come on high of 10 related tanks already accepted by Spain. The 12 missiles to be handed over to Ukraine don’t embrace full missile defence methods, El Pais mentioned.
Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles mentioned final month Spain would ship Patriot missiles to Ukraine, although she didn’t specify what number of.
The opposite weapons can be manufactured by Spanish corporations, together with Indra, El Pais mentioned.
The federal government accepted the expenditure for the deal final month, although it didn’t specify which weapons had been included.
Spokespersons for the prime minister’s workplace and the Defence Ministry declined to touch upon the El Pais report.
Zelenskiy informed Reuters this month Western allies had been taking too lengthy to make key selections on navy assist for Ukraine.
He mentioned he was pushing companions to get extra instantly concerned within the warfare by serving to to intercept Russian missiles over Ukraine and permitting Kyiv to make use of Western weapons towards enemy navy tools amassing close to the border.
